#40Strong

I grew up in California and did not know much about Texas A&M until I visited the campus my junior year of high school. Once I visited, I knew it was where I needed to be.

It was different from the culture in California. Texas preaches family values a lot more and is more of a spiritually aware area of the country. The people were so nice and friendly. People would walk up and say howdy. It was very foreign to me because it was a whole different culture and I really enjoyed that.

My schedule was pretty much the same every day. I would wake up, go to school, head to practice after class, and then eat dinner by 7. After that I would go to study hall, study, and do it again the next day. Back then we weren’t in a conference, we were independent. We traveled a lot to play the independent teams. It wasn’t like today; we just focused on winning games instead of trying to get to a tournament.

I was just involved in softball because we were so busy all of the time. We were kept busy in division one sports. The coaches and staff wanted us to keep our grades up and most of us had to in order to keep our scholarships.

I have three favorite memories from when I was at A&M. First I met my husband here. He played basketball. Second was getting my degree. I was the first in my family to graduate college. Coming here I didn’t know anything about A&M or what I was getting into. It turned out to be a great decision. Lastly was winning the National Championship.

I attribute things that changed my life to A&M. I grew up in a tough neighborhood and coming to A&M got me on the right track. Still to this day I have a great relationship with my softball and athletics friends. We talk to each other everyday and are all mothers now. It is awesome to see women still live a life as a non-athlete like having children and getting married. It is cool to see how sports have evolved, especially for women. I played when it was not popular for girls to play. Being able to watch girls play on TV now is cool too. We used to only be able to watch the National Championship game on TV. Seeing how sports have evolved for women, especially at A&M, is awesome. Women are being treated fairly, staying in nice hotels, and traveling like the men do now.

I was an All-American for 3 years, on the College World Series All-Tournament Team, in the TAMU hall of Fame, the Texas Sports Hall of Fame, and we won a National Championship. My number one was winning the National Championship. It is cool to win the individual awards but being able to celebrate with my teammates and share it with them was an amazing experience.

Girls can now obtain scholarships and become leaders. Women’s athletics produces great leaders in the community and in companies. I took what I learned at A&M and applied it to life and it has made me more successful. We go through life not realizing this and look back and see how much we grew from it. This next part of your life becomes your next championship because you become successful in other ways.